Jhené Aiko – Triggered Single Review

The rumours are true. Twenty88 is no more. Don’t take my word for it though but if you have been living under a rock, Jhené Aiko and Big Sean are no longer dating. They broke up in March 2019. This is not The ShadeRoom so I will not give you tea on what happened and the drama. But, I’m gonna tell you that Jhené Aiko has a new song, Triggered and it’s a freestyle. This song serves as her first single for her upcoming 2019 album.

Overview

Triggered, yes, the title of the single, was released on May 7th, 2019 with a YouTube video of Jhené performing it. Now, let me just say the first time I watched this video it was in 1.25x speed. I repeated the song 4 times without realizing, cause again, I had not heard this song. My first impression was, wow she really can rap if she wanted to. The song wasn’t as slow as the rest, not in a bad way though. I love how all her songs are chill. Jhené is the type of person who will tell you they hate you in the calmest way possible. One word for her music. Soothing.

Eventually, I realized that I was indeed playing videos in 1.25x speed and had to go back and listen to the normal version. And damn boy was I right. Such a calm song with soothing instrumentals and beats. So Jhené Aiko. This song was giving me raw vibes, like yes, come on and pour out your emotions in their most vulnerable and organic state and form. That’s why it’s a freestyle. She clearly just wanted to express her feelings and emotions.

Lyrical Themes

Now, with the lyrics we see a girl who is mad at this guy, you already know who. She is triggered, by him. Seeing his face, the sound of his name, whatever he did, she is triggered. And she is not coming to play with anyone. I was getting anger, revenge, all that comes with being pushed to the edge, from this song. And she expresses that in such a beautiful way that if you have a boyfriend you might as well be mad at him for no reason at all. You are triggered by him and you want him to know that he will pay for it.

There is a plot twist though. In the first verse, she is blaming the subject – “you were the trigger…knew from the beginning, you’d ruin everything, you do it every time”. In the second verse, she wants him back so we see a lot of nostalgia and mixed feelings – “…been a minute, been a while/ ain’t let nobody hit it since you hit it/ you know you always know what to do wit’ it”. It was at that point that I said, “I feel you in my soul Jhené”. Verse 3 was about payback with “don’t know what I’m capable of…might fuck around, have to pay me in blood”. Clearly, that escalated quickly. The final verse is about moving on – “I’ll calm down eventually”. But will she really? Let’s find out when she drops the album.

Verdict

First of all, I use the word trigger a lot so how would I not love this song? It has so much emotion and rawness that you just relate to. Her voice was amazing and soothing as usual. For a freestyle, the verses were well thought out and written. The video, goodness, just go watch it cause Jhené gives some type of look when she finally looks at the camera. I felt that shit in my soul. I’m giving this song a solid 9/10 and that’s just because I can’t give it a 10. Perfection. Ugh. Can’t wait for more music from this queen. I truly stan.

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